Paterson cop on trial for hit-and-run death testifies: He thought he hit a pothole

State says Paterson cop Jose Urena left struck and killed JaQuill Fields then left the scene; Urena says he didn’t know he hit anyone with his car.
Richard Cowen, Staff Writer, @RichardCowen123

Jose Urena, Paterson cop who is accused of leaving the scene of a fatal hit-and-run that killed JaQuill Fields in 2015 and injured his brother, Ameen, is seen with his lawyer Anthony Iacullo prior to the opening statements in his trial at the courtroom of Judge Adam E. Jacobs, photographed at Passaic County Superior Court in Paterson on 10/23/18.(Photo: Mitsu Yasukawa/Northjersey.com)

When Jose Urena, a Paterson narcotics detective, left work on June 16, 2015, the windshield of his car was not cracked.

When he heard a "boom" on his ride home up a steep slope on Temple Street, he didn't stop to see what caused it.

But when police impounded his car early the next morning, there was a crack in the windshield.

Urena is on trial for leaving the scene of the accident that left JaQill Fields dead and his brother Ameen Fields injured. Urena testified in his own defense on Tuesday as the last witness called in the trial. Closing statements are expected to conclude Wednesday, and the jury is likely to begin deliberations later in the day.

Urena, who was not required to testify, said he did not know that he hit anyone and he didn't check his car for damage when he arrived home.

"I hit the pothole, checked the instruments for a second or two, went around another car and continued to drive," Urena said. "Had I known that I struck someone, I would have stopped to render aid."

Urena was testifying before a packed courtroom in front of Judge Adam E. Jacobs. Many in the community had complained that Urena received favorable treatment from the system because he is a cop. City residents took to the streets and marched to City Hall 10 days after the fatal accident to demand justice.

Urena's testimony on Tuesday opened him up to cross-examination, and Assistant Prosecutor Peter Foy tried to poke holes in the cop's version of events, peppering Urena with a series of questions about his actions before, during and after the accident.

"You didn't stop [at the accident scene]?" Foy asked.

"No, sir," Urena answered.

"You didn't call 911?" Foy continued.

"No, sir," came the reply.

"You didn't stop until you got home?" Foy asked.

"No," came the answer again.

Urena, 32, is a nine-year veteran of the Paterson Police Department. He was earning $58,000 a year at the time of the accident and remains on the payroll, free on $50,000 bail.

Jose Urena, Paterson cop who is accused of leaving the scene of a fatal hit-and-run that killed JaQuill Fields in 2015 and injured his brother, Ameen, is seen prior to the opening statements in his trial at the courtroom of Judge Adam E. Jacobs, photographed at Passaic County Superior Court in Paterson on 10/23/18.(Photo: Mitsu Yasukawa/Northjersey.com)

He told the jury that he awoke that day around 3:45 a.m. and then drove to police headquarters to begin his shift at 5 a.m. Urena participated in a buy-and-bust operation that day in which the narcotics squad nabbed 80 people for buying heroin, and he and his fellow detectives spent the rest of the day filing paperwork on the arrests.

Urena didn't leave headquarters to go home until 8 that night. A station house surveillance camera video that has been played for the jury captures him leaving the building and going to his car, and he is then followed out the door by about a half-dozen plainclothes detectives.

Urena said one of the detectives, Sal Macolino, was following him down Presidential Boulevard to the foot of Temple Street. Urena said he then peeled around Macolino and accelerated up Temple Street, and heard a loud boom as he got to the intersection of North Fifth.

Urena said he thought it was a pothole, but never got out of the car to check for damages. JaQuill and Ameen Fields had been hit from behind — the details of which were captured by a surveillance camera that a homeowner had posted on Temple Street.

It was Ameen Fields who told police as they arrived on the scene that they had been hit by a white car. JaQuill died a short time later at St. Joseph's University Medical Center in Paterson. Ameen survived, but he died 10 months later a few blocks away when he rode his dirt bike into a car.

Jose Urena, Paterson cop who is accused of leaving the scene of a fatal hit-and-run that killed JaQuill Fields in 2015 and injured his brother, Ameen, is seen with his lawyer Anthony Iacullo prior to the opening statements in his trial at the courtroom of Judge Adam E. Jacobs, photographed at Passaic County Superior Court in Paterson on 10/23/18.(Photo: Mitsu Yasukawa/Northjersey.com)

A broken headlight was left at the scene, and it was sent to the state police laboratory. The forensic scientist who examined the piece, Judith Link, testified earlier in the trial that it matched a broken passenger-side headlight on Urena's white Mercedes.

Another key piece of evidence is the spider-web crack on the passenger side of the windshield, which Urena admitted on the witness stand wasn't there when he left for work on the morning of June 16, 2015.

Earlier in the day, defense attorney Anthony Iacullo sought to rebut the forensic evidence by calling his own witness to the stand. Iacullo wanted to have a retired deputy chief with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, Mike DeMaio, qualified as an "expert" on accident scene investigations.

Getting a witness designated as an expert is important, because it gives more weight to testimony. But Foy challenged DeMaio's expertise, which prompted a hearing before Jacobs, conducted with the jury out of the courtroom.

DeMaio testified that during a 25-year career, most of it spent in the homicide unit, he had investigated about 700 accident scenes, many of them involving fatalities. But Foy got DeMaio to acknowledge that he does not possess any special technical knowledge about the chemistry of windshields or how to interpret break patterns in glass, so the judge disqualified him as a witness.

That left Iacullo to present Urena and three character witnesses to the jury. Chief Troy Oswald testified that he had handpicked Urena for the detective squad because he was honest and trustworthy. A friend of Urena's from childhood, Hector Ruiz, testified about his honesty and kindness.

The defendant's girlfriend, Rosie Morel, testified that Urena had come home "exhausted" the night of the accident, taken a shower and gone straight to bed. Then a knock came at the door at 1:30 in the morning and Morel shook Urena awake, she said. It was the Paterson police, she said, wanting to know about an accident earlier that night.